No Simple Solution
by DaughteroftheOneTrueKing
Summary: Hermione tells the boys a big secret


**Hey all! I hope you all enjoy my newest fic! It's for Round 11 of QLFC, and the task is all about cliches. We have been given a task to write a different cliche, in a new and intriguing way. I was given the cliche of having a character attend a different school than canon. There is a restriction that it cannot be to Hogwarts. I think I've come up with a good idea, so read on!**

**Word Count: 1221**

Hermione stared at the letter on her lap despondently. It had arrived a week ago, and she'd been avoiding telling Harry and Ron about it ever since. The blue tinged parchment felt heavy in her hands. The whimsical side of her brain insisted that it was because it was weighed down by guilt, but her rationality knew that the golden seal was to blame. She ran her thumb over the broken wax crest, the embossed letter B standing out among the flowery twirls. It was her acceptance letter to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic_. _She had applied just after Christmas, when she had feared the boys would never talk to her again, and here, at last, was the response. She could jump up and down from the excitement. But there was also an ever-growing feeling of dread. As she sat in her usual corner by the fireplace in the common room, she wondered how she was going to ever tell the boys.

Ever since her vacation to France last summer, she'd wanted to go. Her research into the school told her it was a place that only accepted the best. Students who didn't prove they had what it took to make it didn't last, and not only in a magical capacity. In addition to culminating magical exams, they also took all the graduating courses given to French Muggles, _les non-magiques. _The professors there were among the best in the world. Classes were offered in subjects such as Alchemy, History of Magical Spells, Mathematics, and many others. Numerous opportunities awaited her if she went to Beauxbatons.

Hermione hid the letter as she heard the Fat Lady's portrait hole swinging open, admitting Harry and Ron. They appeared to have ran from wherever they had been. Harry's hair was much messier than usual, and Ron's bag was about to snap from the strain of so many books in it. Attempting nonchalance, she said, "What were you two up to?"

She couldn't tell them. She'd known what it was like to think she'd lost her best friends just a month previously, when both Harry and Ron had been at odds with her. Ron had been furious because he'd thought Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers, and Harry had been avoiding her for telling Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt present, which they still didn't know the sender of. She didn't want to go through that again. _Just keep your mouth shut for once, Hermione._

Flinging himself into a seat, Ron said, "Trying to figure out any kind of loophole that might help Hagrid and Buckbeak. Absolutely nothing. Those historians weren't really keen on magical beasts, it seems."

Harry leaned against the edge of the fireplace and nodded. "Reading the stories we did, though, can you blame them? Buckbeak might be relatively harmless as long as you behave right, but most of those other beasts didn't even have that going for them." He reached into his bag and picked out one of the books. "In this, it says they tried to put an Acromantula on trial for luring the residents of a town to be eaten. They weren't able to capture it, though. None of this stuff is going to be any help whatsoever."

Hermione had come to this conclusion in her own research, but she merely said, "I don't know how Hagrid is going to get Buckbeak out of that execution safely in any kind of legal way." She was silently glad that neither had noticed anything odd in her behavior.

She still wished she could have found something that could help Hagrid, but her mind wouldn't let her focus on anything but the letter in her pocket. Part of her told herself to keep silent, but another was starting to tell her otherwise. _They'll understand, _it said. _Just tell them! _And she wanted to. It was something she was so excited about and she wanted to share it with her friends.

_No! _Her reasonable side retaliated. _They'd hate me. They'd think I'm abandoning them!_

_You can come up with something, _the new part of her said. _Tell them to come too! They'll understand._

Her rational mind came up short. She hadn't considered this option. Would they go for it? Before her reason could stop her, she took out the letter and said, "You guys, I need to show you this."

Harry took the letter, giving her a curious expression, and he and Ron read over it carefully. Their eyes grew more and more surprised as they read over the brief announcement of her acceptance. Ron released the parchment, and Harry examined it more closely.

"Mione, are you insane!" Ron exclaimed. "Why d'you want to go to some French school anyway? Are you moving? Is that it?"

With a sigh, Hermione said, "No, but I took a vacation there just last summer, remember? I learned a lot about the magical community over there."

"Hermione, a knife-wielding prison escapee keeps breaking into the common room and dorms, and you want to go off to France? Just abandon everything here?" Harry seemed quite hurt that his friend would just leave.

Hermione felt her stomach drop in disappointment and anxiety. She wished she hadn't told them, kept her mouth shut. She tried to keep the desperation out of her voice as she said, "No, that's not it! It's still not too late, you two can still apply and probably get in!" She had to admit to herself that while Harry probably did well enough in classes to be accepted, Ron, while not stupid, was definitely not academically inclined.

"No way, Hermione," Ron retaliated, anger and betrayal lacing his voice. "You might be okay abandoning everyone you know and starting over, fine, but I'm not going to go."

Hermione finally let her desperation bleed through as she pleaded, "Harry, please! You could get in, and Sirius Black would never get over the borders."

Harry's hand gripped the letter tightly. Hermione knew all he wanted was a normal life, or at least as normal as possible for a wizard. He seemed to be considering the possibility of going to a place where mass murderers and genocidal maniacs couldn't find him. He had never been safe at Hogwarts, no matter what Hagrid said. "Petunia and Vernon don't care where I am during the school year as long as I stay gone."

Ron's face turned as red as his hair. "You're not actually going to do it, Harry! Abandon everything?"

Harry kept his tone even. "I might try and apply, Ron. There's no harm in that, is there?"

Ron threw up his hands in exasperation. "I can't believe this!" He jumped out of his seat and stormed out of the common room, leaving Hermione and Harry alone in his wake.

Hermione stared after him, knowing that things between them would never be the same, and that there would be no simple solution to their problem.

"Mione, I can tell you really want this. I'll think about applying, and I'll talk to Ron once he has a chance to calm down." Harry's words were supportive but still tinged with hurt. Hermione felt even worse that after everything he was still trying to comfort her. And yet, she felt better, having it out in the open. There were secrets you shared, and this one had to be told.


End file.
